Focus on decision-making, awareness, passing execution and more

Drill Structure: Structure the drill cross-ice. Use cones, tires, dividers, etc., as obstacles on the playing surface. With an ice marker, draw two lines from the blue line to the corners to give defensemen space to operate in front of the boards. There are two live pucks in this drill (represented by the green and red dotted lines in this example). Two X players control the red puck and the two O players control the green puck. Have both groups (Xs and Os) simultaneously regroup the puck with the opposite D pairings. Once the regroup is over, the offensive pair travels to opposite side and regroups with the other D pair. In this example, X regroups with D1 first. Then they move to the opposite side of the ice to regroup with D2. O regroups with D2 first. Now they move to the opposite side of the ice to regroup with D1.

Coaching Points: Offensive players must keep their heads up to avoid collisions. The real coaching is in the form of teaching puck support and gauging speed for the drills to work (sometimes they’ll need to accelerate; sometimes they’ll need to decelerate, just like during a game situation). Also, the offensive players will need to use their eyes to see if the next D pair is ready to receive the puck or if they are still transitioning the previous group. Allow offensive players to slow down, make an extra pass or perhaps a new regroup with the same set of D. As for the D pair, emphasize hard, flat passes, keeping the puck off the wall and moving the puck efficiently to keep the drill moving.

Progression: Add a pass. Have the forward who receives the pass from D one-touch it back to the D for another regroup or option.

Equipment: Marker for line, obstacles and pucks.

Comments: Emphasize two-way play. Teach effort on both sides of the puck.